Automatic movement of a watch: How does it work ?
The movement of a watch is the mechanism that allows a watch to function. To fully understand how an automatic watch movement works, you must first learn more about its main components.
Here are its main components :
- THE rotor : This is the oscillating weight of the mechanism. Simply put, it's a semi-circular weight attached to the movement. It rotates 360° according to the movements of the wrist and, thanks to a series of gears, winds the mainspring, thus providing mechanical energy to the watch.
- There crown : This is the small dial located on the right side of your watch. It is attached to the winding stem and is used to wind the mainspring.
- THE barrel : It is an elastic steel band that provides the energy needed for the movement when it is wound, that is, under tension. The barrel drives the watch's gear train, which is activated by the unwinding of a spring it contains, called the mainspring.
- THE transmission system (which is called a cog): It transmits the energy stored in the mainspring to the escape wheel via a series of gears.
- There exhaust wheel : This is the central part of the gear train system which will distribute energy both to the regulating organ and to the rest of the watch once it is regulated.
- The regulating organ consists of couple balance spring who heart of the watch. Thanks to its continuous back-and-forth motion (called oscillation), it sets the rhythm of the entire watch. The balance spring acts like a spring for the balance wheel, returning it to its starting point with each oscillation. In other words, the balance spring keeps time. And so on.'anchor Who is linked to the escapement. It will transmit the force of the mainspring, acting as an intermediary between the gear train and the balance wheel, at each of the balance wheel's oscillations.
The components that allow the watch to function properly :
- Rubies: These are stones of great hardness which help to reduce friction and wear on the components of the mechanism.
- The turntable : It is a plate that supports all the components of a watch's mechanical movement.
- The bridges : The bridges allow the parts located on the plate to be fixed.
The operation of an automatic watch movement
Now that you are fully familiar with the main components of a mechanical movement, let's look at how an automatic movement actually works. Here are the six main steps that will help you better understand how the hands of your watch move:
- Step 1: Automatic or manual rewinding
This step allows the watch to accumulate the energy necessary for its proper functioning.There are two ways to wind your watch: automatically through wrist movements which rotate the rotor and thus wind the mainspring, or manually by turning the crown yourself.
- Step 2: Storage
Once the energy is captured by the watch, it is stored. More precisely, the energy accumulates in the mainspring barrel, which contains a long spring; winding the watch winds this spring.
- Step 3: The Transmission
This stage allows the accumulated energy to be released via a chain of gears. The transmission system transfers the energy to the regulating organ (stage 4) via the escape wheel, which will then redistribute this regulated energy to the watch display (stage 5).
- Step 4: Regulation
The energy is controlled by the oscillation of the balance wheel and hairspring, which is directly linked to the escapement. The regulator is located at the end of the chain and acts on all the components upstream of it. The regulator's role is to "brake" the energy of the mainspring.
- Step 5: Display
Thanks to the constant regulation achieved in the previous step, the anchor ensures a regular rate for the entire mechanism. With each set of balance wheel beats, the escapement engages the gears on which the watch hands are driven. There you have it, you're on time!
As you can see, the operation of an automatic movement is not linear; there is a back-and-forth between transmission and regulation. From an aesthetic point of view, automatic watches have a significant advantage. The seconds hand moves smoothly thanks to a combination of small jumps, unlike the seconds hand of a quartz watch, which jumps every second.
